AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Worthing: Why It Occurs and How to Stop It
Pause here for a moment if your diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, and phone 0333 366 0103. A drain plus a thorough flush, carried out right where the vehicle sits in Worthing, is usually all it needs if caught before the engine runs. Reading in advance? Then the rest covers why it comes about and what to prevent it happening at all.
AdBlue in a diesel vehicle, and its separate tank
No single fluid but two: that is how many newer diesels around Worthing and West Tarring carry, with diesel feeding the engine. AdBlue's own tank keeps it, and from there it is sent to your exhaust, where spraying treats the fumes.
Each tank has a filler of its own. Under one flap, side by side: that is the layout on a lot of vehicles. On others, AdBlue's filler sits beneath the bonnet or in your boot instead. Diesel goes in on each forecourt call-out, again and again. Rarely filled, AdBlue normally goes in out of a bottle, tipped by someone who has to stop and think what cap to use. It's in the gap that the error happens.
How AdBlue in the diesel tank takes place in Worthing
Rarely is it carelessness: usually three things coincide.
Hurry follows from the warning. The vehicle tells you as AdBlue runs low, and a dry tank puts the vehicle into limp mode — so the top-up gets done quickly, before work on a driveway off Richmond Road, or heading home in the car park outside The Three Fishes.
New-to-you vehicles come second, too. Rentals, new vehicles and company vehicles place their fillers differently, and the hand reaches for the cap used on the old one.
Lastly, the spout goes in: a diesel filler or AdBlue filler, it slides in just as easily, and once the pour begins, no part stops it. Whether it occurs in East Worthing or the middle of Worthing, it is the same few seconds.
Telling the AdBlue filler from the diesel filler
Before you tip anything, whether on a driveway in Durrington-on-Sea Sta or a forecourt in Worthing, check these. They take a couple of seconds.
- Read the cap rather than going by position: AdBlue ones are regularly blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel caps normally aren't.
- Look at the size: the smaller filler neck is, on plenty of cars, the AdBlue one.
- The flap. Look inside the fuel flap for a label. Many motors say there which fuel goes where.
- The handbook shows which it is if your filler isn't next to the diesel cap: the boot, or under the bonnet.
- Collecting a hire or company car, say at the car park outside the nearest station? Check with whoever drove the vehicle last before you set off, rather than when the light goes on.
How to top up without AdBlue in the diesel tank
Wherever in West Sussex the light comes on, here is a routine for the day.
- Park and switch off. Not on a slope, not with your motor running, and not in a rush on the side of Union Place.
- Locate the AdBlue filler, check the cap, and say the word "AdBlue" aloud as you unscrew it. It sounds silly. It works.
- Both under a single flap? So make sure the cap on your diesel filler stays closed before lifting the bottle.
- Using the bottle's own spout, pour slowly — and stop when it's full or the bottle is empty.
- Shut the cap, then check once more — making sure the diesel filler stayed closed the whole time. After that, start the car.
Find at step two or three that it's already gone into the diesel side? So stop right there. Don't go on to stage five.
Worthing: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank?
What follows is a short order of things, starting with not starting your motor. Leave your ignition off too, because on plenty of diesels it by itself starts your pump. Thinning it with more diesel won't work, since AdBlue settles to the bottom rather than mixing — and that is where your fuel is pulled from.
The attendants at Esso, Shell or another forecourt will normally help to push your car away when asked. Leave it where it is if you are on your own drive in Worthing.
Already run? Stop once it is safe, then turn off. The next exit is the place to come off if you are on the M23, under 25 miles from Worthing. Tell us roughly how far it went: a run towards Brighton and Hove, under 15 miles away, is a bigger job than a short hop across Worthing.
When our engineers turn up in Worthing, what happens?
The van comes to your car anywhere it has come to rest — your own drive, near Worthing Museum and Art Gallery, or by St Mary's Catholic Primary School. The replies decide this work and our price, and so our technicians ask what was put in, roughly how much, and if it has run. Nobody heads out until you have had the price by phone.
Your system is then rinsed thoroughly, once the tank is emptied. With AdBlue that matters more than with petrol: it crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it does not wash out on its own. The fuel filter is flushed, or replaced where it needs to be; clean diesel goes in; and your car is tested. Then our technicians start the engine and confirm it runs correctly before we go.
Most jobs are done in about half an hour once our engineers get there, provided your engine has not run — and the pumps our technicians use are safe on a live forecourt and quiet at night outside a house. Nothing upfront; you settle up that day. Afterwards, a VAT invoice and a report from the engineer go to you for your insurer. Many insurance policies include misfuelling cover, and so it is worth checking yours whilst we're on the way.
About Worthing itself
Worthing is a coastal town in West Sussex, situated on the south coast of England, approximately 49 miles from London. Worthing has a relatively low elevation of around 11 metres above sea level and is bordered by nearby places such as East Worthing, West Worthing, and Broadwater. Worthing is predominantly composed of flat housing, reflecting its urban character. Worthing is close to the city of Brighton and Hove, which is about 10 miles away.
AdBlue drains in Worthing and across West Sussex
Over BN postcodes, the teams covering Worthing — a coastal town — work the surrounding locations too, Broadwater and West Worthing included. Give a postcode beginning BN11 1, and our van gets there fastest.
The vehicle remains where it is. Anywhere it stands — near WW1 Memorial, on a layby en route to Liverpool Gardens, at home — that is where it is drained. Guessing won't help at the back of Worthing Tabernacle, close to a boundary, or anywhere hard to pin down; ring and check.
For Worthing people, the short version
Read the cap before you tip. AdBlue in your diesel tank after all? Keep it off then phone 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it on the spot, across West Sussex.